Film Reviews by AER

What do you need from a good horror film? Great acting that sells the fear, a good concept, tension, fear of the unknown and originality (this is optional). This no-budget horror film is highly potent, very effective and works brilliantly within its own confines. The cast are great and convincing, the set-up economical and the concept brilliant. With a running time of less than 1 hour you won't get bored. If you are a horror film fan, you've probably seen a lot of films like this already, it's hardly original but it delivers what it set out bring to you; a ******* scary time.

Forget about all the silly real-life noise on Twitter/Social Media about what went on behind the scenes during the making / release of this film. It detracts from a decent mid-sized mainstream sci-fi film. Wearing its influences on its sleeve you have everything from The Stepford Wives, The Truman Show and Mad Men to compare it to. The twist is borrowed from one of the biggest films there is but I won't spoil it for you.... On its own terms its entertaining, Florence Pugh and the rest of the cast do well in thin-roles and the mechanics of the plot are very interesting and present some food for thought without getting bogged down in infodumps or big explanations. Much has been made of Harry Styles performance but it's not that showy a role and he does well-enough to serve the story, in that he doesn't stand out - which is what has been called for. The look and style of the film is fantastic and the OST is atmospheric too. Elsewhere it's been criticised for being unoriginal - I don't hear those claims angled at the endless superhero/sequel/reboots do you? This was made from an original script - not based on novel, old film, a product.... I can count on one hand the number of films like this released at the cinema in 2022.... Watch it in a vacuum and maybe in a few years after everybody has forgotten about who said what, who spat at whom, who was sacked or walked.... zzzzzzz This should stand alone as the modest and cool little flick it is...

Lance Henriksen is a revelation in Viggo Mortensen's directorial debut. Henriksen plays a bitter, prejudiced old man with on-set dementia and cancer. It's a tough watch as he lays waste to his caring family. It's written and directed with care and stands should-to-shoulder with recent - contrasting dramas about caring for aged relatives... ie: Supernova, The Father, and to a lesser-degree the Australian horror-drama Relic. Very moving and especially worth watching for Lance Henriksen's once in a lifetime performance. Those that love this actor for his sci-fi/horrors won't have seen him like this. He's a very talented actor anyway but Viggo Mortensen has gifted him the role of his career. His best since Dead Man, Near Dark, and maybe even Aliens/Alien 3.

A future drama classic.

Rewarding semi-documentary about the residents of Bombay Beach and other settlements along the forgotten Salton Sea in California. Enlivened with dance sequences and some lightly dramatised sequences, this voyeuristic documentary shadows some interesting, troubled characters. It's like the opposite of the American dream. An insight into a hidden America we're not often allowed to see.

Remember when films like these came out every week at the cinema? I think Denzel Washington is about the only actor that still fronts films like this on this scale. This serial killer film was had an early leading role for Angelina Jolie>>.. and she is pretty good in this up until the crap ending where the murderer is revealed and feels compelled to share his masterplan before the good guys rescue whoever is in peril. Denzel Washington plays a crippled forensic investigator who only has use of two fingers and his head after an accident.... A Jolie is his rookie partner who scours murder sites for clues... The killer is dismembering and stealing bones from his victims whilst taunting DW & AJ with fiendish clues... Seven this ain't but it's a lot better than some of the other films released around the same time that trod similar streets.

I am a big fan of the first Clerks film; I can't remember much about Clerks II but I think it had it's moments - however Clerks III is dire. It's truly unfunny and shows that Kevin Smith is creatively bankrupt. This comedy churns over barren ground searching for jokes and the acting from everybody concerned is shocking. It's like watching a fanmade tribute by the WI.... Awful in every way possible. The worst film I've seen at the cinema in 2022....

I can't find a fault with this visually amazing and creative take on Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. All you need to do is compare this to Guy Ritchie's very sorry King Arthur - Legend of the Sword and you know you're in an entirely different league. When legend/fantasy films are pumped out all over the purpose without care or love, this version by David Lowery offers thought, mystery and atmosphere for days. Pumped up with excellent understated performances, this is one of the finest English-language films of 2020. 10 out of 10.

You can almost imagine this film retold as an Aardman Animation (Wallace & Gromit style) so madcap are its stylings and performances. It's a lot of fun, very light and quick of pace. It doesn't compete with Knives Out for prestige but it is streets ahead of Kenneth Branagh's ultra lame Death on the Nile.... The central whodunnit is almost a red herring in itself... Packed full of lively performances from everybody even down to bit part players... Fun but disposable. It could have been even funnier but I'd settle for quality light-entertainment like this instead.

If you like Sunday evening TV comforts like Where The Heart Is or Heartbeat then you will like this undemanding sequel to the hit film Fisherman's Friends. If you took out the montage sequences set to the FF's many songs then the running time and story meat would amount to 30 minutes (haha). The director's brief was to just hand the script around and say make believe you are on Coronation Street or Brookside. It's about as innocuous and vapid as you can get. It's a rush job sequel which will please any fans of the first one. It's not really cinema -it's a singing cash cow and a bit of a sawdust sausage...

Charlie Day is an acquired taste and Ice Cube does what he always does, growl and look like like Teddy Ruxpin. This had very few laughs in it but still it had some invention and it cheered me up... So as a film it's a bit lacklustre but if you have a film about 2 teachers that have a fist fight then this is exactly that. Undemanding like its viewers (me included).

Flat, uninvolving, cliched bore full of lazy plot beats, manipulative incessant soundtrack, clumsy editing, and uninterested actors. The book had a corny story to begin with but good films can be made out of melodramas... but this was just a quick cash-in. It was un-involving and quite a slog to get through to its very unconvincing conclusion.

This lightweight musical about Aboriginal Australians was a massive stage hit down under. This the starrier film version with Geoffrey Rush in. Reprising his role as Uncle Tadpole is Aussie National Treasure Ernie Dingo who is the type of larrikin that is a staple of movies from the land down under. It zips along at a fair crack with lots of musical numbers but despite having a unique subject matter it's still a bit slapdash and as corny as most other musicals. It attempts to address racism whilst making you laugh and that makes it a very uneven movie which never seems to settle down before throwing us another lame joke. The lead, Rocky McKenzie is a bit wooden too, so thank goodness for the brilliant Ernie Dingo who on saves this ropey musical from being wholly lame.

This Australian rave-culture take on Le Ronde is as authentic as a 3 dollar bill... A Pulp Fiction wannabe without an ace of originality, it makes Human Traffic look like The Godfather. It features a bag of Australian character actors playing nightlife types (none are at all convincing) - pity poor Kylie Minogue, Ben Mendlesohn, Joel Edgerton, and David Field. Everybody sucks in this.... An embarrassing career low that the cast probably want buried.... Very stinky.

Percy Adlon's films are usually interesting and funny. This was just too surreal and odd to pull me in. I liked the yodelling though.

Sadly a gigantic plot hole and some narrative inconsistencies sink Kenneth Branagh's lavish adaptation of Agatha Christie's Death on The Nile. I wonder if the same plot holes exist in the source novel. I won't share what they are because I don't want to put spoilers in.

Kenneth Branagh's other recent film as director, Belfast, is vastly superior and a lot more honest than this corny follow up to his Murder on the Orient Express (which was also more enjoyable)....

I wish some of the other 'reviewers' would stop piggybacking their right-wing racist/homophobic views about 'wokeness' into their reviews of this fairly innocuous movie....

3.5 out of 10